[Advaita-l] Who is this Angustha Parimana Purusha?

[V Subrahmanian]

The Kathopanishat mantra 2.4.12 and the bhashya:

अङ्गुष्ठमात्रः पुरुषो मध्य आत्मनि तिष्ठति ।
ईशानं भूतभव्यस्य न ततो विजुगुप्सते । एतद्वै तत् ॥ १२ ॥
पुनरपि तदेव प्रकृतं ब्रह्माह — अङ्गुष्ठमात्रः अङ्गुष्ठपरिमाणः ।
अङ्गुष्ठपरिमाणं हृदयपुण्डरीकं
-तच्छिद्रवर्त्यन्तःकरणोपाधिरङ्गुष्ठमात्रःअङ्गुष्ठमात्रवंशपर्वमध्यवर्त्यम्बरवत्
। पुरुषः पूर्णमनेन सर्वमिति । मध्ये आत्मनि शरीरे तिष्ठति यः तम् आत्मानम्
ईशानं भूतभव्यस्य विदित्वा, न तत इत्यादि पूर्ववत् ॥
The size of the thumb stated is of the space available in the heart where
the manifestation of the Brahman-consciousness is stated to be available.
So, it is not the size of Brahman per se but the space in which Brahman is
available for realization.
The mantra occurs many more times in the same upanishad.
For the miniscule part of the tip of the hair, the idea is that the jiva is
first specified as such and that is not the final word. It means that the
jiva, in truth, is infinite:
BSB 2.3.29
तथा च — ‘वालाग्रशतभागस्य शतधा कल्पितस्य च । भागो जीवः स विज्ञेयः स
चानन्त्याय कल्पते’ (श्वे. उ. ५-९)
<http://advaitasharada.sringeri.net/php/format.php?bhashya=svt&page=05&hval=%E2%80%98%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%B2%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B0%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%97%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%20%E0%A4%B6%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%A7%E0%A4%BE%20%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%A4%E0%A4%B8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%20%E0%A4%9A%20%E0%A5%A4%20%E0%A4%AD%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%97%E0%A5%8B%20%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%80%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%B8%20%E0%A4%B5%E0%A4%BF%E0%A4%9C%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%9E%E0%A5%87%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%83%20%E0%A4%B8%20%E0%A4%9A%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%A8%E0%A4%A8%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AF%E0%A4%BE%E0%A4%AF%20%E0%A4%95%E0%A4%B2%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%AA%E0%A4%A4%E0%A5%87%E2%80%99%20(%E0%A4%B6%E0%A5%8D%E0%A4%B5%E0%A5%87.%20%E0%A4%89.%20%E0%A5%AB-%E0%A5%AF)#SV_C05_V09>
इत्यणुत्वं
जीवस्योक्त्वा तस्यैव पुनरानन्त्यमाह ; तच्चैवमेव समञ्जसं स्यात् —
यद्यौपचारिकमणुत्वं जीवस्य भवेत्, पारमार्थिकं च आनन्त्यम् ; न हि उभयं
मुख्यमवकल्पेत ; न च आनन्त्यमौपचारिकमिति शक्यं विज्ञातुम्, सर्वोपनिषत्सु
ब्रह्मात्मभावस्य प्रतिपिपादयिषितत्वात्





On Wed, Mar 30, 2016 at 11:12 AM, H S Chandramouli via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

> Sri Shashwata Shastri observed
>
>
>
>  << The infinite Brahman is imagined as the exact same size as the thumb. I
> need an explanation regarding this. And also in Svetastvara it is stated
> that the self is the thousandth of the tip of a hair. >>
>
>
>
>  The infinite Brahman as associated with upadhis appears to be so. They
> refer to upahita Brahman (उपहित ब्रह्मन् ).
>
>
>
> Regards
>
> On Tue, Mar 29, 2016 at 4:25 PM, Shashwata Shastri via Advaita-l <
> advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:
>
> > The infinite Brahman is imagined as the exact same size as the thumb. I
> > need an explanation regarding this. And also in Svetastvara it is stated
> > that the self is the thousandth of the tip of a hair.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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